Weird spikes on Chicken's anus

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
41

With these things (unfortunately) in mind, I must ask - WHERE did you buy that chickens with the fly eggs ( ) and the huge feather shafts sticking out of it? Was it the same place for each?

Although the feather shafts don't bother me (just a matter of pulling them out and it's not like most of us would eat that part anyhow) but if it is the same place as the other, it seems to be a lil bit of a pattern.

42
Happy to see you were planning to eat it, and were not worried about said 'spikes' for any other unusual activity...

43
Was the chicken not wrapped in cellophane??? What did you do with that chicken (with the fly eggs)- did you take it back to the shop?

44

No, he opened a restaurant

45
Chicken with fly eggs was from a catering company and I do not wish to share names...

Other chicken was from a supermarket..

46
As it wasnt from a shop I didn't take it back, but honestly I was so grossed out by it I threw it out directly, I could not have kept it around to take it back even if I had bought it from a supermarket!

47
Short answer: Yes. In a past life I helped raise chickens which dress out quite a bit heavier-looking than that. Flying is out of the question but they can walk just fine. (They do tend to have joint problems as they get older, and don't tolerate temperature extremes well. Think of them as the chicken equivalent of pugs or bulldogs...)

From your comment I guess you're used to laying hens, which are bred to be a lot lighter so that they'll be cheaper to feed. One's not really more artificial than the other, both are the result of dozens of generations selective breeding to suit a particular human purpose.

48
What a nice story to read!

I once also adopted some ex battery hens - 5 of them. And the same story as yours ... they looked puzzled about things at first, and then began scratching the dirt, falling over until they got the hang of it, and then discovered worms to eat ..... and then dust-bathing, and lying in the sun.

I got them a rooster man (refugee from a closing down pet shop), and one of them hatched a batch of chickens. That was nice to watch, as she trained them in how to live life in the real world.

When I left SA, I gave them to a petting farm, as they loved human beings and dogs. They`d run out to greet visitors, and peck their shoe laces (worms?).

49
My OH used to keep some chickens when she was living in Germany. She wasn't allowed a rooster though as there was some ordnance against that (noise?). She never got many eggs as the chickens would eat these themselves, which seems very strange behaviour to me.